Streaming media technology may be used to transmit media content such as audio and video in a streaming fashion in a network. Characterized by strong real-time performance, the streaming media technology is extensively used in systems such as video-on-demand, video conference, distance education, remote medical care and live broadcast.
There are usually two kinds of approaches to provide multiple bit rate streaming media service by a streaming media server:
First approach: a user selects a play option such as “smooth,” “standard” and “high definition” based on the network situation, and the server provides the user with a media stream having a bit rate corresponding to the play option selected by the user.
Second approach: HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) is used to adaptively provide the user with multiple bit rate streaming. Specifically, the streaming media sent by the streaming media server to the user is formed by a video clip, and each video clip comprises multimedia data that may play 10-second media content, and the multi-media server may adaptively provide the user with media streaming with a different bit rate based on the network quality.
During the implementation of the present disclosure, the inventor finds that, as the above first approach pushes the media streaming with a bit rate to the user corresponding to the play option selected by the user, the first approach cannot adaptively provide the user with multiple bit rate streaming media, and is deficient in intelligence. In addition, the user usually changes the play option when the play is under abnormal situations such as pausing or mosaic. Hence, the above first approach undesirably affects the user experience. The above second approach can solve the technical problem existed in the first approach, but the play duration of a video clip in the second approach may cause a noticeable delay when the bit rate is switched.